The latest news and information from Michigan Lawyers Weekly

Main menu

Post navigation

36th District Court continues reorganization

In what is being called an effort to improve operations at the 36th District Court, Chief Judge Nancy M. Blount has named presiding judges for each of the court’s seven divisions.

She also announced assignments of the court’s judges to each division, which are to begin Oct. 1 and are to remain at their assignments indefinitely.

Judge Nancy Blount

“The prior arrangement, in which judges were rotated from division to division, was inefficient and did not allow judges to build expertise in these divisions,” Blount said in a statement. She would not comment to Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

One interesting assignment was that of Judge Kenneth J. King, who has been assigned to the collections division. King served as the court’s chief judge until July 22, when the Michigan Supreme Court removed him from that role, and has been a vocal opponent of the court’s collection program instituted since he left.

“For the most part she’s kept intact the administration team I assembled,” King told MiLW. “She added an ombudsman that no one really knows what that’s about, but for the most part, she kept the same team intact.

“I haven’t been a big fan of the collections program. I think it’s a huge mistake and debacle, and I’m not in favor of out-county arraignments in Redford — I think it’s short-sighted,” he added, not discussing his new role. “You now have families that have to travel all the way to Redford, and I don’t think defense likes it either.”

The out-county collections program that King references lets people pay fines and other fees at participating courts outside Detroit. Those courts then forward half the money that’s collected to the 36th District.